Tuesday, November 18, 2014

If you've ever been unlucky enough to have been the victim of Vosteran Search (vosteran.com) – commonly referred to as malware – then you no doubt have sympathy for anyone who is experiencing the same thing. Malware comes in many different shapes and sizes and it ranges from the annoying and distracting to the downright dangerous. Some types of malware may seem fairly innocuous but can actually act as a gateway, allowing something far more serious to attack your computer. Vosteran is a PUP not malware but because it's usually installed without your permission it's not surprising at all that most people call it malware.

PUP is a Potentially Unwanted Program. It doesn't sound too scary, what with the 'potentially' part of its name softening the blow somewhat but trust us when we say this is likely to be something that you really don't want installed on your computer. Currently, it's detected as PUP.Optional.Vosteran but I'm pretty sure most anti-virus engines will update databases soon with various detection names. Once installed, Vosteran Search adds browser extensions and creates Windows services that run every time Windows starts. As a result, you will notice multiple instances of Vosteran.exe on your computer. Malicious browser extensions are Vosteran 2.3.0 and Vosteran Search 1.0.2. These extensions will change your home page to Vosteran.com and your search engine provider to Vosteran Search.

Part of the problem of this malware is the fact that we really don't know what it can do to our operating systems or our data – are we at risk of identity theft or fraud, or will our files be corrupted or destroyed? A malware attack can leave us in a state of panic.

Sadly for us and the millions of other innocent computer users out there, malware is going nowhere soon and as developers become ever more sophisticated in their means of attacking us, protecting yourself is now more important than ever before.

How is Vosteran Search installed?

It is normally bundled with free software programs which means that when you install something on your computer you really need to read the software license agreement (i.e. the Terms and Conditions) properly so that you are 100% sure what it is you are actually downloading.

What will happen if I've been hijacked by Vosteran Search?

The majority of Potentially Unwanted Programs and browser hijackers leave you vulnerable to attack by adware – advertising supported software. These adverts may be pop-up or pop-under windows or banner ads. Adware is annoying and it also monitors which websites you're visiting so that the owner of the adware can choose which adverts are displayed on your PC. For example, your home page was probably Google but now you have a different home page with ads that are very often misleading. So, despite the fact that you've installed a PUP and a browser hijacker not only your search results will be redirected to sketchy websites, but you will also get ads on your computer. What is more, it's not a very comforting thought to know that you're being spied upon. In addition to this, Vosteran Search will also install a new toolbar in your browser. And far from being an improvement on your old toolbar, you'll soon weary of this one as it will generally have less useful functions, merely serving as a device that redirects you to websites of its own choosing.

How do I defend myself against Vosteran Search?

As mentioned you need to read license agreements thoroughly. Most PUPs will be mentioned in them because the software developers argue that a PUP is not actually malware. As always, you should also make sure you have a good anti-virus program installed on your computer and that it is the most up to date version of it too. Run it regularly and also keep an eye out for suspicious new toolbars, home pages or browsers – these are a very clear sign that you have been attacked by a Potentially Unwanted Program.

To remove Vosteran.com Search from your computer, please follow the steps in the removal guide below. If you have any questions, please leave a comment down below. Good luck and be safe online!

Vosteran Search Removal Guide:

1. First of all, download recommended anti-malware software and run a full system scan. It will detect and remove this infection from your computer. You may then follow the manual removal instructions below to remove the leftover traces of this infection. Hopefully you won't have to do that.

2. As this infection is known to be installed by vulnerabilities in out-dated and insecure programs, it is strongly suggested that you use an automatic software update tool to scan for vulnerable programs on your computer.

3. Remove Vosteran Search related programs from your computer using the Add/Remove Programs control panel (Windows XP) or Uninstall a program control panel (Windows 7 and Windows 8).

Go to the Start Menu. Select Control Panel → Add/Remove Programs.
If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, select Control Panel → Uninstall a Program.

If you are using Windows 8, simply drag your mouse pointer to the right edge of the screen, select Search from the list and search for "control panel".

Or you can right-click on a bottom left hot corner (formerly known as the Start button) and select Control panel from there.

4. When the Add/Remove Programs or the Uninstall a Program screen is displayed, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and remove the following programs:

Vosteran Search

Vosteran 2.3.0

If you are using Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8, click Uninstall up near the top of that window. When you're done, please close the Control Panel screen.

46
comments:

Anonymous
said...

I just went through this nightmare, after downloading long-trusted Filezilla FTP client. Unfortunately I was unaware the project is complicit with the "wrapper" put in place via SourceForge, and the claim users can opt out of so-called optional addons is total BULL. Recent Wikipedia entries reflect similar experiences as mine. A really sad day. Filezilla has been a trusted name by many amateur & pro developers for years. To shrug and turn your back on this activity destroys any future credibility and wrecks the name of goodwill in a once friendly freeware market run & frequented by true webheads. Thankful to blogs such as this that help people through the frustration. I was able to create a restore point, then go in and remove from browser with such help. Thanks! T.W.

I got 'Vosteran' the same way. From Filezilla. I'm a REAL neophyte and have never cleaned my own bugs, etc. before. Thank you, thank you, Michael Kaur, for taking the time to post the instructions and making it seriously layperson friendly.

Thank you soooooo much. When I realised I had allowed this into my system I was distraught and the ads where a nightmare I was unable to watch anything in peace and that was after I had uninstalled vosteran from my programs. Thank goodness we have people like you to help. I put you in a small window and followed your step by step guide - brilliant. Once again thankyou. You truly are an angel. Kim x

Vosteran still appears as one of the options for the search engine window in Firefox, and when I try to remove it in the Manage Search Engines menu, it won't let me click OK. I've managed to change the search engine back to what I use, but how do I purge my system of this bug? My malware scan keeps finding Vosteran related PUP files, even after 2-3 clean scans... what else needs to be done?

In Explorer, I've reached the "Manage Add-Ons" page, but I'm not being given the options to remove Vosteran. I see it, can click on it, can RIGHT-click on it, but remove is in a lighter font and I can't click it. Any thoughts?

I've just been through all this. It all seemed fine but then the whole thing collapsed. I can't get any form of Internet and the screen is just rubbish.I had disabled in "Manage Add-Ons" the three suspicious extensions.But I had re-installed a fourth called True Suite Helper browser Object thinking it might be vital to windows.My IT professional brother said I should have disabled this - is this what caused the total collapse?What now? Can I risk using my Recovery Disks for this almost new Lenovo E545 or will Spyware find me anywhere?

Thanks for the instruction. I got it by searching chrome in IE. and download the installation file from downloadzone.org. In its Chrome_Setup.exe, one option is to install vostreran, optimizer Pro, BrowseStudio. When I realized what happened a few minutes later, I removed all of them from "uninstall or change a program". also removed it from the add-on and remove the link from the default home page. I had been very carefully before, but a small lapse wastes me hours of time. hopefully, there is no other long term effect on the system.

Hi - so I just happened to pick this up - it's horrible - as if it's virus/malware season Both my pc's are infected. I can't seem to do what you've instructed. It doesn't show up in the programs in the control panel (weird) and it's not showing itself anywhere. But the spyhunter found all sorts of shit. I just don't have $40 to invest in this right now. How do I get rid of this???

Thanks. this looks useful. I believe I have taken most of the steps suggested. but I can't help but wonder whether something more serious is going on. Since downloading this, I have received phone calls from someone telling me that there is suspicious activity on my computer. it is clearly a ploy to get me to give them more information, because when I offer to call back, they hang up.

OMG, my grand daughter used my computer playing games yesterday and loaded this monster "Vosteran" after many attempts to remove, I finally contacted mcafee, who thought they removed it all, however it still came up as a 1st tab in chrome. After searching again this morning, I came across your blog..It worked, thank you so much for helping a grandma who know's nothing about computers...

okay. so i have tried and tried to uninstall it. but everytime i try it keeps popping up that i have to close all of the Vosteran tabs to be able to uninstall it. but there in nothing up that i can close ?what do i do !!????

Hi, thanks so much for posting this- very helpful... I did "about:config" in Firefox, searched for "Vosteran" and found 5 links. I right-clicked and selected "remove" on all 5 links. However, when I re-opened Firefox later, the Vosteran links re-appeared. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Some program tried to download on my laptop, I stopped it before it downloaded completely, but not before this Vosteran add-on downloaded itself. I did not know it was on my computer until I went to get on it this morning. As soon as I clicked on Internet Explorer, Vosteran was what I seen. Never seen it before, so I knew something was wrong. Came across this blog on how to remove this unwanted add-on from my computer. It worked, Thank you so much for taking the time to post the instructions to remove this unwanted malware. It was easy to remove.

I had same problem with Vosteran virus I went Control Panel Programs and Features uninstall program. went Internet explore at very top type typed in men.ca or msn.com or google.ca. apply hit okay. closed open browser tools manage add-ons search providers click Bing search apply go down to Vosteran click remove. very simple to do for windows 7-8-8.1

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Hi there, and welcome to my humble web presence. I'm Michael Kaur. Malware squasher, geek, and blogger based in Los Angeles, CA. If you'd like to contact me, the easiest way is through email given below or Google+. Simply add me to your Google Plus circles.

DisclaimerThis is a self-help guide. Use at your own risk. Deletemalware.blogspot.com can not be held responsible for problems that may occur by using this information.

About the blogThis blog provides reliable information about the latest computer security threats including spyware, adware, browser hijackers, Trojans and other malicious software. We do NOT host or promote any malware (malicious software). We just want to draw your attention to the latest viruses, infections and other malware-related issues. The mission of this blog is to inform people about already existing and newly discovered security threats and to provide assistance in resolving computer problems caused by malware.